Former Real Madrid president reveals Cristiano Ronaldo had to pay a €30 million penalty if he did not join Los Blancos in 2009

Former Real Madrid president Roman Calderon oversaw Cristiano Ronaldo's world-record transfer from Manchester United back in 2009. The much-talked-about transfer has a lot of theories suggesting that the Portuguese superstar already had a deal in place to join the Los Blancos a year in advance.

Ronaldo also renewed his contract with the Red Devils despite giving his consent to a transfer to the Madrid giants ahead of the 2009-10 season. Calderon recently spoke with The Athletic and revealed what exactly happened before the forward's eventual move to the Santiago Bernabeu.

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Ronaldo and United agreed a €30m penalty if Real Madrid move didn't materialise

The former Los Blancos president confirmed that Manchester United and Ronaldo had agreed a €30million penalty if either changed their mind. This agreement was put in place by the player's agent Jorge Mendes who wanted to make sure the deal would go ahead as initially planned. Calderon was quoted as saying:

“Jorge Mendes, when I signed Cristiano, he did a very good job. He is an agent who protects his players and defends their interest in the best way. In late 2008, Cristiano called me and said, ‘I am coming.

“He extended his contract with United but he did it with the commitment to come to Real Madrid the year after – he said, ‘I am going.’ We knew for sure he would be coming, which is why we signed the commitment with a €30 million penalty for both parties.

“This meant that if we didn’t comply with the contract, we would have to pay Cristiano €30 million and vice-versa – he would have to pay us the same if he reneged. He was very happy at United. He told me many times that Ferguson was a father to him, how he gave him the chance to become the best player, how he loved the fans but he wanted to change and we started to talk.

He added:

“The penalty clause was a way to strengthen the commitment. Ferguson didn’t want to sell but he knew. I had the same situation with Robinho when he said he wanted to leave.”

Ronaldo went on to become a legend at Real Madrid and left the club as their all-time top goalscorer to join Serie A giants Juventus in 2018.

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